Louisiana

The Raise Your Hand Campaign is a student-led research initiative in New Orleans schools that pulled together student testimony and research from 6 different public high schools and examined the opportunities, or lack thereof, available to students in the years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. The report examines everything from teaching quality and student support services to physical environment and school food, and gives each school a report card and recommendations for improvement.

March 30, 2012

The Raise Your Hand Campaign is a student-led research initiative in New Orleans schools that pulled together student testimony and research from 6 different public high schools and examined the opportunities, or lack thereof, available to students in the years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city. The report examines everything from teaching quality and student support services to physical environment and school food, and gives each school a report card and recommendations for improvement.

By Lucy Friedman, Founding President of TASC (The After-School Corporation)

A growing body of research shows that the typical six-hour school day just doesn’t cut it for many students. Too many schools lack the time and funds for arts, recess or inquiry-driven projects that inspire a life-long love of learning and provide skills needed to be competitive in the 21st century. The challenges and needs are particularly dramatic in low-income communities where students are the most likely to be behind grade level and who stand to benefit most from additional learning time. ExpandED Schools is a promising new model to help reinvent schools that are struggling to deliver on the promise of high-quality education for all students.

December 15, 2011

A growing body of research shows that the typical six-hour school day just doesn’t cut it for many students. Too many schools lack the time and funds for arts, recess or inquiry-driven projects that inspire a life-long love of learning and provide skills needed to be competitive in the 21st century.

The challenges and needs are particularly dramatic in low-income communities where students are the most likely to be behind grade level and who stand to benefit most from additional learning time.

On Thursday, August 2, Jeff Bryant of the Education Opportunity Network moderated a Netroots Nation panel on education privatization in New Orleans, and the lessons we can learn from the struggle of New Orleans residents to reclaim their public schools.

August 9, 2018

On Thursday, August 2, Jeff Bryant of the Education Opportunity Network moderated a Netroots Nation panel on education privatization in New Orleans, and the lessons we can learn from the struggle of New Orleans residents to reclaim their public schools.

Our grantee partner, Youth BREAKOUT! and the Congress of Day Laborers began working together more than six years ago after realizing that their struggles for LGBTQ liberation, the human right to move freely, and the fight against criminalization are inherently and inextricably linked. Together, they have recently released VICE to ICE, a compendium of resources for organizing with people whose lives are at the intersection of LGBTQ identity and undocumented status.

Hair is an integral part of black cultural expression, but it has little to do with educational development, says John H. Jackson, president and CEO of the Schott Foundation. His response, highlighted in recent media reports, was a sharp dressing-down of a charter school in Malden, Mass., that disciplined African American girls who wore braided hair extensions to school. The case brought heightened attention to the boundaries of policing identity, and it activated our advocacy partners at the local ACLU, NAACP, and Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice to get the school to reconsider its ban on hair extensions, which overwhelmingly affected students of color. It also got the attention of the state attorney general, who is now investigating.

May 19, 2017

Hair is an integral part of black cultural expression, but it has little to do with educational development, says John H. Jackson, president and CEO of the Schott Foundation. His response, highlighted in recent media reports, was a sharp dressing-down of a charter school in Malden, Mass., that disciplined African American girls who wore braided hair extensions to school.

Last week, I and approximately 200 grantmakers and advocates from across the nation traversed horrific storms and endured prolonged travel delays to get to Charleston, South Carolina, for the Grantmakers for Southern Progress (GSP) 2017 Regional Convening. The three-day convening provided space to have discussions about capacity-building, building power for progressive change, racial justice, economic opportunity, and advancing equity in public education.

April 13, 2017

Foundations have had an “on again, off again” love affair with the South. Funding there tends to be short-term and typically in response to a natural disaster, a national crisis or an election, but some significant infrastructure has been laid to coordinate and expand opportunities for sustained foundation giving.

New Orleans provides a model for examining the feasibility of a nearly 100% charter, market based system of schools. This is truly an education experiment on a grand scale, and because New Orleans’ system is unique, the nation is watching. How is it working?

New Orleans provides a model for examining the feasibility of a nearly 100% charter, market based system of schools. This is truly an education experiment on a grand scale, and because New Orleans’ system is unique, the nation is watching. How is it working?

In honor of #GivingTuesday on November 29th, the Schott Foundation has reached out to some of our grantee partners to get the low-down on what they do, who they’re doing it for, and the challenges that they handle like rockstars every day.

November 7, 2016

In honor of #GivingTuesday on November 29th, the Schott Foundation has reached out to some of our grantee partners to get the low-down on what they do, who they’re doing it for, and the challenges that they handle like rockstars every day.

The Schott Foundation began partnering with Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools this year to support their work around organizing and providing leadership opportunities for youth of color in New Orleans.

The Schott Foundation has been having an exciting few weeks of travelling around the country to share ideas, meet allied organizations, and see the work and future planes of our grantees highlighted in a variety of forums and conferences. It’s been great to see innovative and important conversations happening, and we’re glad to share with you some of the highlights!

by John H. Jackson, President & CEO, Schott Foundation for Public Education

Concerns about the importance and need to mobilize Black and Latino voters in 2016 and future elections have reached a fever pitch. But in many states and cities there are counterproductive disenfranchisement actions being taken that disempower Black and Latino communities -- the takeover of their public schools. In this attack on democracy, governance by locally elected school boards is stripped away altogether. This dismantling of democracy in predominantly poor communities and communities of color is now underway, or being proposed, in several states. Denying these citizens' right to elect local school boards through state takeovers or mayoral control should sound the same alarm as denying them the vote because the impact of the action minimizes their democratic voice and vote.

April 8, 2016

Community members at a rally in Milwaukee, February 17, 2016. Photos taken by @NoMPSTakeover.